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> building Nathan's bowie knife
building Nathan's bowie knife
@ 01:38 pm (GMT) |
Warrick EdmondsFollowing some discussion on this forum, and in agreement with Nathan, I have embarked on the construction of a stainless steel field-bowie knife for Nathan to trial. The steel of choice is CPMS35VN, the handle will be black. The design will be to Nathan's specs, plus a bit of fiddling by me, which represent a solid working knife, not a safe queen by any stretch.I will be posting regular updates on MY WEBSITE, which can be found at this address; http://www.riflebirdknives.com/nathan-fosters-hunting-knife/ Alternatively you can just Google Riflebirdknives or me Warrick Edmonds and follow your nose to the relevant page. I will also be making the occasional post on my Instagram account which is; warrick_at_riflebirdknives. My website page will carry pictures, videos and text describing the process of building the knife, the materials used and links to the maker of the steel. Unfortunately there will be no room for your input on my website however please feel free to hold discussion on this page of Nathan's forum or on my IG posts. The more the merrier. http://www.riflebirdknives.com/nathan-fosters-hunting-knife/ |
Replies
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@ 02:32 pm (GMT) |
Nathan FosterRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeAwesome, thanks Warrick. Should be a great knife for our wet and salty conditions here.I am so excited to try this, thanks again so very much. The blog looks great! |
@ 02:07 pm (GMT) |
Andrew MurrayRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeCheers for the post Warrick,I love to follow on with processes like these, when raw materials become something greater than the sum of its parts. Will be following keenly :) |
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@ 08:52 pm (GMT) |
Warrick EdmondsRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeNip on over to the link and scroll down, I've just posted some video on the actual grinding of the blade. It won't win any awards but shows the process.http://www.riflebirdknives.com/nathan-fosters-hunting-knife/ |
@ 02:40 am (GMT) |
Joshua MayfieldRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeThanks for sharing, Warwick. I'm enjoying following this project and look forward to hearing how the different blades perform in the field. I took a little time to check out the different blades on your site. You, Sir, are an artist. |
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@ 01:14 pm (GMT) |
Warrick EdmondsRe: building Nathan's bowie knifethanks for the kind words Joshua.14th July, another update has been added to the page on my website, the knife is ready for heat treating. Follow the link; http://www.riflebirdknives.com/nathan-fosters-hunting-knife/ |
@ 01:41 pm (GMT) |
Bryan WebsterRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeHello Warwick. It appears your web site has become very popular this past while given the message to wait a bit. Back when I used to have my own web sites, I saw this many times.Bandwidth Limit Exceeded The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later. That is not bad news but good news! |
@ 02:25 pm (GMT) |
Warrick EdmondsRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeBryanThanks for the heads-up, I wasn't aware. My web-hosting account says I have unlimited traffic, but since reading your comment I studied the fine print and it says the definition of unlimited is 'fair use'. Now aint that a vague term !! I've contacted my web-host and they're looking into it. Hopefully it'll be resolved quite soon. cheers Warrick |
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@ 06:30 pm (GMT) |
Warrick EdmondsRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeThe issue with my website has now been resolved.Warrick |
@ 05:29 pm (GMT) |
John SmithRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeI am following your knife building for Nathan with interest.With luck I will be using my riflebird knife again on an elk this Oct. or Nov. It performed wonderfully last hunting season on a huge cow elk and is still scary sharp. |
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@ 01:52 pm (GMT) |
Warrick EdmondsRe: building Nathan's bowie knifestage reached; it's gone to heat treating, 21st June. |
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@ 03:56 pm (GMT) |
Nathan FosterRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeThanks for the updates Warrick, really keen to use this knife.The girls and I were out again today. The girls have Buck knives which take a bit of knowing to get right and keep sharp. Riley's is the 5" version and she does little chores like cutting away kidneys and hearts for the cats. Steph also has a Buck, slightly bigger. This one is special as it belonged to forum member AJ before he passed away. As usual, I had my original Riflebird which has been in need of a good sharpen for about 6 months but I keep steeling it and it keeps going. It has been very interesting to see just how long it will go for before I am forced to put it on the stone. Its pretty much due now, especially with all of the mud around which dulls a good knife very quickly. |
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@ 04:21 pm (GMT) |
Nathan FosterRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeI forgot to mention, the video was great and the tapered tang a real trick.I have used Trizacts up to 600 grit (super yachts) but generally stop there and switch to sizal mops, then calico, then flannel. But mops can be so dangerous when polishing knives. The cork was very interesting to observe. I am wondering how you will finish this (but not wanting a reply). I am wondering whether you will chase the bling (so I can warn Tonto of enemy cowboys) or leave it somewhere between 400 and 600 grit. I have no preferences so it will be interesting to see your artistic take on this as it progresses. |
@ 10:49 am (GMT) |
Bob MavinRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeShow me your bling kemosabe !!!! |
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@ 11:10 am (GMT) |
Warrick EdmondsRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeNathan and BobUnfortunately, especially given all its good qualities, CPMS35VN is not a steel that rewards the effort needed to bling-up. I've brushed the knife at 800 grit parallel to the spine and intend leaving it there. However I do have the option of getting it dry bead blasted if you prefer or want to try a frosted look?? If so let me know soon-ish because I need to get that done prior to putting on the handle. I have tried polishing this steel on other knives in the past and it comes up with a mottled, blotchy sort of cloudy look which is quite unsatisfactory given how much work is involved. With knives, where keeping the flats flat is a feature, all the fine and super fine polishing has to be done by hand pushing wet and dry to at least 2000 grit or even up to 8000 grit then onto green titanium wax buffing compound, so it is a real time sink and you want to be rewarded for the effort. The payoff with our steel of choice is it has good wear resistance and hangs onto a cutting edge well. (hopefully!) |
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@ 09:26 pm (GMT) |
Bob MavinRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeSounds good Warrick.I was visualising Nathan on a hill somewhere, flashing morse code to Steph to bring more Bourbon :) ha ha Cheers Bob |
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@ 10:59 am (GMT) |
Warrick EdmondsRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeUpdate 25th July 17The knife returned from heat treating a week or so ago and is now off to be sand blasted. This is purely cosmetic, something I've not tried before, so a bit of an experiment. If it doesn't work or looks crap I'll hand sand it back to a brushed finish. |
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@ 02:23 pm (GMT) |
Warrick EdmondsRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeupdate 26th July 17The knife has been sand blasted and is now ready for the handle. A photo and short video of the sand blasted blade has been posted on my website, see this link http://www.riflebirdknives.com/nathan_fosters_knife.html |
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@ 06:49 pm (GMT) |
Warrick EdmondsRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeThere was a bit of a delay in constructing the knife while we waited for the black G10 handle material to arrive from the US. If you go to my website you'll now see there's a new suite of posts re attaching this lot to the knife, so we're now moving along again. Here's the link;http://www.riflebirdknives.com/nathan_fosters_knife.html |
@ 09:42 pm (GMT) |
Warwick MarflittRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeWarrick the Knifes looking awesome. Well done and thanks for sharing with the community. Its a true work of art and your attention to detail and doing it right is a joy to see. A true Craftsman showing his skills. |
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@ 08:51 am (GMT) |
Nathan FosterRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeIt is so neat to see this coming together step by step Warrick. I very much like the stippling on the Ricasso, also quite like this look on wood rifle stock grips as an alternative to checkering.Hand sanding the blade to a uniform grain is much the same as stainless bench top work. The satin benches already come with a grain but by the time the sink bowl is welded and the welds then disced away, the saitin grain is removed from the center area (also any corner welds). So this has to be re-finished. After bringing the worked on areas up to a high finish, we generally use what we call a black wheel (like a very harsh grade of scotchbrite) and finish with a green scotchbrite by hand to true the lines up nicely. Never easy. And as you know, heat is always the enemy, especially on thin sheet. Thanks for sharing this in such detail. I have really enjoyed following this and still feel overly spoiled. |
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@ 06:02 pm (GMT) |
Warrick EdmondsRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeWarwick Marflitt, thanks for the kind words, they're much appreciated.I've posted another video, this one is of me coarse shaping the handle on a belt grinder. Fine shaping will come later, at the bench via hand sanding. Please keep in mind that I build my website myself using Deamweaver. I'm not that skilled at it, so haven't worked out how to get videos to only switch on just when you click on them. As it stands, they all tend to start at once, so you might have to press pause on the earlier ones, particularly the grinding video as it's quite noisy. Here's the link; http://www.riflebirdknives.com/nathan_fosters_knife.html Warrick 29th-Aug-17 |
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@ 05:54 pm (GMT) |
Warrick EdmondsRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeThe handle is on and essentially the knife is finished. See latest post on my website. 5th-Sep-17I now need to make a sheath. |
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@ 03:25 am (GMT) |
Joshua MayfieldRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeWarrick, I missed that last update until today. Just got caught up on your progress. Just beautiful. Thanks for taking the extra time to document and share your process. |
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@ 08:27 am (GMT) |
Nathan FosterRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeLooks very much like chipped (napped) stone, like an early stone tool. Quite a nice look Warrick! |
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@ 06:54 am (GMT) |
Nathan FosterRe: building Nathan's bowie knifeWell, after an interesting time where the knife entered the interdimensional portal known as the Australian post, Warrick was finally able to get the knife to me. It arrived, I unpacked it, gave it a quick lick, put it on my hip and went out the door hunting. I spent the day with Steph doing dog tucker goats and the blade held its edge throughout. The chipping on the handle is just great, handsome and functional.That's one hell of a knife thanks Warrick. I have been using it in wet weather, long periods with the blade blood soaked with no corrosion. Yet the material appears to have the same good characteristics as a carbon steel blade. So thats pretty much it for me, a knife for life. Thank you so much for this. |
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